JAPANESE SPORTS

A SHORT ACCOUNT OF JUDO

BY JIGORO KANO

FOUNDER OF THE JU-JITSU INSTITUTE

In giving a brief description of Japanese sports and games, it seems to me to be expedient to distinguish at the outset between such as are peculiar to Japan and those which were originally imported from the West and have been adopted by the Japanese people. Among latter class may be mentioned baseball, lawn tennis, boating, football, and shooting. A typical point about these foreign games is that they are all, with the exception of shooting, confined to students — especially those attending the middle-schools and the institutions for older pupils. Baseball and lawn tennis are the games which most attract Japanese students, boating is also a favourite sport with school-boys living near a lake or the sea, and football is being played at some of the higher institutions of learning.

GAMES OF JAPANESE ORIGIN

With respect to the purely Japanese games and sports — and it is these, I believe, that will most interest Western people — I may state that many varieties of such exist. Most of these games are played indoors, and there are not many which give exercise to the whole body, the movement being usually limited to certain muscles only. The following are a few of the most common games in Japan: Walking on stilts is pursued for sport by boys. Japanese stilts are always so long that the parts extending above the foot-rests serve as handles; the foot-rest extends backwards instead of inwards. Kite-flying is one of the favourite spring games of Japanese youths. Battledore and shuttlecock is played accompanied by songs, sometimes by one person alone, but more frequently by several especially if they are of the gentler age. Hand-ball is one of the most popular sports with little girls. Snowballing, rolling great snowballs, and skating are practised by boys in winter in many of the colder provinces; Japanese skating takes place on a frozen lake surface, or more usually consists of sliding down an icy or snowy slope like skiing; the only difference being that the Japanese use flat bottomed clogs instead of ski.

TRIALS OF STRENGTH

In addition to tug-of-war and lifting heavy weights, there are various kinds of trials of muscular strength. These involve the use of the fingers, hands, arms, neck, shins, and legs, and constitute the chief features of such games as the so-called ''hand pat," the neck pull, striking down the pillow, pillow pulling, and the like.

What is termed "leg-wrestling " is a game in which the opponents sit facing each other on the floor, the knees being raised in front, each person with his hands clasped under his knees, the soles of the feet resting on the floor, and the two sets of toes opposed; each attempts to get his toes under those of his opponent and thus to tip him over backwards. This may be regarded as being typical of many similar trials of skill and endurance.

WRESTLING

Wrestling has been practised in Japan from very early times, but it was not until the period of the Shogunate that professional wrestlers came into existence and created various types of feats. Wrestling is a contest practised between two persons in a ring, 13 feet in diameter. The contestants appear in the arena at the summons of the umpire, who decides the question of victory or defeat. In addition to the umpire, there are always four veteran wrestlers, one at each of the four corner posts, closely inspecting the methods practised and the special feats. The combatant who is pushed out of the ring by his opponent or who in caused to fall on the ground, or touches it either with knee or hand, is declared to be vanquished.

PHYSICAL TRAINING

The sports and games which have been described thus far are those undertaken for diversion, but there are others which might be regarded as sports and games, but which have never been so considered in Japan. They have been treated as a means of training and discipline, mental as well as physical, and they were originally included among the military arts of the Samurai.

Chief among these exercises are fencing, ju-jitsu, archery, swimming, and lance-fencing, while fencing, ju-jitsu, and swimming are those most widely practised. Lance-fencing is now almost obsolete, and archery is practised only to a limited extent. Fencing, ju-jitsu, and swimming are the mort popular exercises among students, although other classes are also taking them up with considerable interest.

JU-JITSU

Ju-jitsu has in the last twenty or thirty years acquired a new and further development and a means of training and discipline, and as it has also received a considerable share of attention from foreigners, it seems not altogether out of place to give a short account of it in this connexion. Ju-jitsu, which means literally the "soft or yielding art," is a mode of contesting without weapons with an armed or unarmed opponent, and it enables a man to defeat another who is superior to him in strength. In ordinary contests the stronger man must overcome the weaker, but if the weaker man yields instead of opposing, the other contestant loses his equilibrium and becomes more unstable in proportion to the amount of strength he exerts. While an easy attitude tends to preserve the balance, the exertion of strength often places the stronger party in an unstable and insecure attitude. In such cases the weaker combatant has the better of it, and the mere fact of yielding enables him to overcome the stronger opponent. Though the exercise of this art develops the mind as well as the body, the chief object has been from the outset simply attack and defence, and it was, therefore, properly called the "soft art."

There have been many schools of ju-jitsu, and as each school tried to keep secret its merits and excellences, it needed a great deal of time and patience to obtain correct information concerning the art in its entirety.

JUDO

This has naturally brought about an attempt to amalgamate the merits and characteristic excellences of each school, and has thus gradually led to the development of an amended system. This, moreover, made the existence of a new name for the art desirable, and may sufficiently account for the fact that the old name ju-jitsu is being abandoned and the new appellation "judo" has come into vogue. Ju-jitsu gives exercise to the whole body in a much shorter space of time than any other kind of gymnastic feat; and as ju-jitsu trains the different muscles in their united movements, and enables them to respond freely at the command of the will, it may be said that a knowledge of ju-jitsu makes a mans body more capable of every sort of action. It promotes bravery as well as patience; it also cultivates the habit of observation and speedy mental action.

Moreover, as one has to be always on the alert against various unexpected attacks from the opponent, sudden confusion and excitement are prevented, thus ensuring mental composure. Again, the instruction imparted in judo in its exercise-hall is given individually to each student, while the instruction in the school team is given only to a group. The teacher of judo has thus more opportunities of studying his pupils individual characteristics, and consequently he can give instruction bettor adapted to the special requirements of each pupil.

Concerning the methods of attack in judo, there are three varieties. First, striking and kicking the vital parts of the body; secondly, throwing down the opponent on, the ground; thirdly, holding the opponent in a defenceless position. Of this third kind, again, there are three subdivisions — namely, (a) hurling down the opponent and holding him so that he cannot move freely; (b) choking him; and (c) twisting or bending the joints unnaturally, so that he cannot stir without pain. In judo these results are all obtained by yielding to strength and by attacking the opponents weakest points, rather than by opposing strength to strength.

RANDORI AND KATA

Complete instruction must include a knowledge both of randori and kata. Randori is a contest in which one may make use of any desired trick, provided that it does not seriously endanger the opponent. Kata is the training in attack and defence according to a prescribed order of feats, instead of using any random trick at pleasure. For the thorough study of Judo, therefore, neither kata nor randori can be disregarded. Besides the study of randori and kata, the teacher has to give his pupils lectures on the principles underlying the various methods of attack and defence; and his pupils must acquire the theory of proper training of both mind and body.

The above are certain of the principal things which must be emphasized in the study of judo. As regarded the age most appropriate for learning judo, much depends on the competency of the teacher. With a skilful teacher judo may be practised with advantage at any age after the child can walk but in the absence of a thorough teacher, it may not be advisable to take it up when very young or at too advanced an age.

Respecting the time needed to learn judo, it may be asserted that a brief acquaintance with its principles may be gained in a month, while three years of study and practice will be needed to make the student fairly proficient.

Source: "The Times" July 19, 1910.